A Shinji Kagawa inspired Borussia Dortmund prevailed 3-1 over Freiburg: Adrian Ramos, Kagawa himself and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang wrapped up a deserved three points. Oliver Sorg blemished the BVB coffee book with a late consolation.
BVB came into the game with an horrendous injury list. The demons of last year are back, but thankfully Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ciro Immobile recovered from their midweek knocks to take their place in the matchday squad. However: Mats Hummels, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gündogan, Oliver Kirch, Marco Reus, Nuri Sahin and Ji Dong-Won were all out for various injury reasons.
The win against Augsburg, a comfortable game up until the 80th minute, raised concerns when the hosts scored twice late on to set up a nervy finish. Undeterred from the close-call, Jürgen Klopp named a strong side even with the injury problems. There were two changes to the side that beat Augsburg last Friday, as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Marco Reus dropped out for Shinji Kagawa's return and Adrian Ramos' first start.
Freiburg had much less to worry about on the injury front, Sascha Riether was their only absentee. Though Karim Guedé would miss the game through suspension. The away side picked up a valuable point against Borussia Mönchengladbach last time out, after an unfortunate 1-0 loss to Frankfurt in their opening game. Christian Streich made just one alteration to the side that drew 0-0 with Gladbach, as Nicolas Hölfer came in for Dani Schahin. That meant Streich's men switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Admir Mehmedi as the lone striker.
It was almost the perfect start for the Swiss striker. He broke costless of the Dortmund defence in the first minute, but his shot was parried strongly away by Roman Weidenfeller. Not long after Shinji Kagawa tried his luck, yet the returning prodigal son could only fire over. Milos Jojic, much maligned for his passing in recent weeks, fed Kevin Großkreutz and Mr.BVB's shot trickled tantalisingly along the goal-mouth and evaded the baying Nordtribühne.
The hosts almost took the lead after the twenty minute mark, after a lovely ball from Henrikh Mkhitaryan found Großkreutz. The midfielder cut back towards an on-rushing Kagawa, who would have had the easiest of tap-ins, only for Marc-Oliver Kempf to make a fantastic, last-ditch tackle. Just when it looked like the sides would be going in level at half-time, a certain Japanese international had other ideas.
Kagawa had dropped deep to start the move off, drifting past players before slotting a great pass through to Großkreutz. He drove to the left-hand side by-line and lifted his head to pick out Adrian Ramos at the near post, with the Columbian roofing the ball into the net. A lovely, flowing and swift move from the hosts had given them a deserved lead and also evidence to why Ramos started instead of Ciro Immobile. Things got even better, just moments later.
Another chance to break was finally taken by the hosts, with Mkhitaryan playing in Ramos down the right-hand side. His cut-back evaded the Aremnian, the initial target, but did find someone at the back post. Shinji Kagawa was ready and waiting for the ball, took a touch and calmly slotted past a helpless Roman Bürki. The Westfalenstadion was in dreamland, the perfect start for prodigal son.
The second-half began with BVB dominating, but Jonathan Schmid's header needed an acrobatic stop from Weidenfeller to maintain their two-goal cushion. Kagawa was substituted for Ciro Immobile just after the hour mark, hardly a surprise with his lack of match fitness. Laughing with cramp, he could barely make it off the pitch, but the smile on his face told everyone that he was happy once more.
The Italian striker made an instantanious impact. Weaving past one, then two and then a third defender, the goal was at his mercy; Immobile could only pick out the greatful gloves of Bürki. A glorious chance gone for BVB's new frontman. The second-half was a dull affair, with Christian Streich's team able to score the goal that would spark it back into life.
Unfortunately for Streich and his charges, any goal would have been a consolation when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang broke costless. The Gabonese international picked the ball up on the half-way line and charged towards the goal. Bearing down on Bürki, he nonchalently chipped over the Swiss stopper to give BVB a third. Many questioned Aubameyang's future in Westphalia during the summer, but he's answered those doubters with a series of masterful performances up-top.
There was still time for Oliver Sorg to reduce the arrears before full-time, but it was merely a consolation and a reminder that the old BVB are still there. Taking nothing a from Freiburg, however, who deserved a goal for their effort if nothing else and will be a much needed momentum boost for their game against Hertha Berlin next week. A solid, very comfortable win for Klopp's team is a great confidence booster for their game against Arsenal in mid-week, and they now sit third in the table